Updates on my babies!

Monday's girl is doing so well! She has started smiling and burbling and gurgling up a storm. Whenever I walk in the nursery, I am greeted by the hugest, sweetest smile. A few days ago, she started doing this thing where she apparently randomly decides to start screeching and yelling and smiling and laughing and kicking and squirming. It's quite entertaining. She was sick earlier in the week and running a fever, but she seems to be recovering fine. She turned seven months this week, and I'm thinking that she may be starting to get some teeth.

Tuesday's boy is growing and learning and laughing a lot these days. He knows how to say "uh-oh" now and says it frequently. Just today I saw him waving for the first time. He throws gigantic and heartbreaking fits of rage whenever I walk past his crib but don't pick him up. And he apparently doesn't like chocolate cake, because when I tried giving him a special treat the other day, he made a face of utter disgust and refused to put any more of it in his mouth. When I'm playing with him, he is the happiest, funniest, most charming little boy! I was thrilled to find out this week that his family is in Michigan, so hopefully I'll be seeing this little boy after he gets home!

Wednesday's boy is still reserved and often very clingy, but he is slowly becoming less so. I managed to go on a successful walk with him where he obligingly walked the whole way and didn't cry for me to hold him - this was certainly quite an accomplishment, and I think he is trusting me more and more. I try to get at least one smile out of him every day. He loves lollipops and goldfish and tampico. His birthmom came to visit him this week, and he was very upset to leave me and go to her. My heart ached for her as her baby screamed and kicked and fought. I'm hoping that he starts to talk soon. I know that he's a smart boy, and he obviously understands a lot of what I say to him.

Thursday's girl is always a joy. She has a chest cold right now, though, which has made her a little bit more subdued in the past few days. I'm still working with her on walking, and she can be very stubborn; she only walks when she wants to walk. Even when she does walk, she has a lot of upper body mass that she has a difficult time balancing out on her legs! She's beginning to play with toys much more intently rather than just throwing them which is what she always used to do. She can spend twenty minutes carefully examining and playing with just one toy. She also just started repeating the sounds I make, sometimes nearly recognizable as simple words!

Friday's baby still has a sock over his thumb!! He finally figured out, though, that he can suck his left thumb as well as his right thumb, so he may very well have two socks pretty soon. He's still a tiny little munchkin. He's got a weird rash around his mouth, and he had a horrible diaper rash although thankfully it's slowly healing. I love how he's beginning to get more interactive. He smiles more frequently than ever before, he can track toys now when I wave them in front of his face. I'm not impressed with his strength, though. As far as I can tell, it has improved very little in the past month. He refuses to put any weight on his legs, he only lifts his head up during tummy time for a few seconds before collapsing, and he still won't sit up. But we'll get there eventually.

Saturday's girl has become quite charming! She is doing a great job with having less and less tantrums. She knows how to blow kisses now, and does so quite beautifully to all the nannies and all her roommates as she toddles out of the room each day. Her laugh is beautifully contagious, and she laughs more and more each day. She is also a very busy little girl, and she loves to explore everything in sight. She is starting to repeat a lot of what I say to her, and I hope she starts to talk more. So far she says "bye bye" very beautifully, and she also says "Boo!" or "Pee-a-boo!" when we play peek-a-boo. Usually when I don't pick her up she throws a fit, but sometimes at night when I see her in her crib through the window, she claps and waves and blows me kisses.

Sunday's boy is a little bit sick, I think, but still happy and busy nonetheless. Yesterday I was in the big nursery watching the kids while the nannies attended Bible study, and he was clearly thrilled that I was there. He came hurdling across the room, flinging himself into my arms where he would rest contentedly for several minutes before repeating the process again and again. We are currently working on what it means to not grab other people's toys as if they were your own!

In other news, I just finished re-reading my mom's book Carried Safely Home. I read it in now from a new perspective. For anyone considering adoption, for anyone in the process of adopting, or for anyone who has adopted, you should probably read it. It's a good book.